This invention relates to systems for determining the location and tracking the movement of animals. More particularly, this invention relates to an animal collar that transmits location and tracking information to a remote receiving device.
Tracking the location of animals such as domesticated animals, pets or wild animals that can move in unknown directions over a considerable range of territory has been a concern for a number of years. Although many pet species have keen senses of direction, it is not uncommon for pets to wander from their homes and become lost. Many pet owners have no reliable mechanism for locating their pets when they are lost.
Zoologists, filmmakers and others often study animal behavior in the wild. Heretofore it has been difficult to experience that which a wild animal sees and hears in its native environment, undisturbed by human presence.
Active pet collars have been developed to help notify passersby that a pet is lost. For example, some pet collars allow the pet owner to remotely activate a visual display located on the collar, such as an inflatable balloon inscribed with the message xe2x80x9cLOST PET,xe2x80x9d flashing lights, or an electronic display. Although these systems may alert bystanders in the immediate vicinity that the pet is lost, they do not help the owner determine the pet""s location. As a result, unless a bystander contacts the pet owner, the pet will likely be lost for an extended period.
A number of systems have been proposed which employ existing wireless communication capabilities but which tend to be cumbersome, bulky, expensive or all of the above. Through the use of global positioning satellite system (GPS) services, it is possible to provide relatively inexpensive location systems for determining the location of moving objects. GPS technology has typically been utilized in connection with vehicles to provide location information for companies that have large fleets of trucks in use at any one particular time. The position of an individual truck is determined by the coincident reception of signals from at least three of the GPS satellites by a satellite receiver, which position can then be stored or can be transmitted to a central receiving station via some sort of wireless link.
Recently, GPS technology has been incorporated in pet location systems. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,067,018, 6,172,640 and 6,236,358 each disclose systems having pet collars that employ global positioning devices that generate data to facilitate calculation of a pet""s specific location. Such technology, however, conveys little information about the immediate environment. Often, it would be helpful for the pet owner to observe the pet""s surroundings and conditions, not just the representation of the pet""s location on a map. This is particularly true for pet owners who rely heavily on landmarks for their sense of direction. None of the devices described in the above-referenced patents facilitate pet location by allowing the pet owner to view the pet""s immediate surroundings.
Thus, there is a general need in the art for an animal location and tracking device that allows pet owners and other interested parties, to determine the location of their pets and to view their pets"" immediate surroundings.
This invention is embodied by an apparatus for locating or tracking animals. The apparatus includes an animal collar including a digital video camera that generates video signals, a global positioning unit operative for receiving a global positioning signal and a controller in communication with the digital video camera and the global positioning unit. The controller includes a wireless communications link. A remote source is provided in communication with the wireless communication link where the controller is operative to transmit the video signals to said remote source.
The invention is also be embodied by an animal collar having a digital video camera that generates video signals, a global positioning unit operative for receiving a global positioning signal, and a controller in communication with the digital video camera and the global positioning unit. The controller is provided with a wireless communications link and is operative to transmit the video signals and the global positioning signals to a remote source responsive to a command from the remote source.